After the Back Up is complete I need you to unplug your PlayBook and then push and hold down the Power Button until the unit Force Powers Off.

Now, while Desktop Software is still open on your computer and the PlayBook Powered Off, Connect the PlayBook to your computer.

You should see and error screen from Desktop Software pop up that has the options to Retry, Update, or Cancel.

QUICKLY choose the Update option.

This will erase all the information off of your PlayBook and Re-Write the Software back onto it. Once it's complete your PlayBook will need to go back through the setup wizard, and you can then perform a restore using Desktop Software to return your information. The only thing that won't come back after the restore are the apps that you downloaded from App World but they can be easily Re-Installed using the My World feature in App World.

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

I have found that if I retry a backup after a failed backup, then it might work, or trying a third attempt I get a successful backup. So far I haven't had to attempt more than 3 times in a row before I get a successful backup.

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

After reading pages and pages of recomendations and suggestions concerning the inability to do a proper backup I punted. My Playbook is just about done restarting after wiping it and rebuilding it. I figure it will take a few days ot put the apps back that I want but at least it will be possible to back it up again.

I also had the problem where I could backup media and settings, but not applications. It showed 0 applications and 0 Mb. I don't know how much I actually had, but it was in the 1 Gb range.

I haven't been able to install a new update since August. Backups failed at about the same time. It all started during an update for BedBuzz alarm clock. I tried to install the update. It failed and it hasn't been right since.

My "solution" was to scroll through the pages of installed applications and take a picture of it with my BB Bold 9780. At least I know what I had and can figure out which ones I want to re-install.

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

For me it was a rogue application causing the failed backups. I could always backup Settings and Media, but a total backup or custom backup of Apps only were failing with the exact same error message you were receiving.

What I had to do was delete all the apps from the tablet then add them back one-by-one, performing an App backup after each one. If the backup succeeded I reinstalled another app and repeated the process. It took me THREE DAYS but I finally narrowed it down to a single app causing the problem: President's Choice Recipie Box. I could pretty much strangle the developers of this app for causing me so much grief and wasted time. I have 85 apps totalling 5.1GB installed on my Playbook. Backups work properly again with the PC Recipe Box six feet under. It's too bad because I really liked it.

If you don't have the PC Recipe app in your collection it's almost certainly another title causing your problem. You don't have to reinstall the entire OS or do security wipes. You'll just have to go through the painstaking systematic process I did to identify the problematic application. Once you kill it you will be trouble-free again. I hope this helps someone. I also hope it helps RIM trouble-shoot their backup routines so an incompatible app like this doesn't take the entire process down. If I could make a suggestion: Please provide more on-screen information when the backup is running. For example, if I could have seen which application title was being backed up in real-time it would have been trivial to see which app was thwarting the backup process.

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

Thanks for the hard work as it did help me out ... after trying for hours, I deleted the Weathereye app as mentioned earlier, same backup problem, almost same location. On reading this post I deleted the Presidents Choice Recipe Box and was able to backup successfully!

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

I was so hopeful after seeing the latest posts. I deleted WeatherEye and PC Recipe app and tried the backup... Unfortunately I'm still getting 'loading of backup content failed'... If I try to continue and choose backup, it sits for about 60 seconds to two minutes then says there was an error during backup. So frustrating. I've been trying to backup since a week after the launch. All I really want to back up is the apps because I don't want to have to download them again if something happens. Especially since there isn't an 'update all' option or something similar... it's so painstaking to go through each one and reload.

Thanks anyways though... if anyone else comes across any other evil apps, let us know I'd be happy to try again.

Re: Still unable to Back up Playbook!

There's no way this should be possible, but obviously it is. I just took a nearly fresh unit (set up yesterday, only Battery Guru installed) and did a backup. Installed Recipe Box, ran it, added a note and a shopping list, and the backup failed.

I uninstalled and immediately re-tried backing up, but it still failed. I'm pretty sure, however, that uninstalls do not completely clean everything out immediately, but may require a periodic "cleanup" process that gets run from time to time. I encouraged that process by restarting the PlayBook and then a backup immediately worked.

I retested just now and merely having the app installed, even if it's never been launched, is enough to prevent the backup!